Forever Is Tomorrow
by meridian.fall
Summary: The imagination is a coloured world, why live in a black and white reality?
1. Chapter 1

**This is a product of pure boredom. Leave me some reviews and tell me what you think. **

"_So she cried and her tears formed a river that carved through the dry, hard land. Anything that stood in its way was obliterated. Nothing remained. And it flowed, to the sea, away from the sea, to the stars. Till the world was but a spinning globe of water. Encased in its own sorrow. The sorrow from one girl who had been denied her chance at love. To be loved. So the world felt her pain."_

"_And as the girl poured her heart out, let all the pain she kept inside flood into the world, something softly brushed her cheek, and caressed her hair. And for a moment her tears stopped, and she looked around. The wind carried to her, soft words meant for her ears only. And it was then that she knew that he would forever be looking down on her. Looking after her. And suddenly, as if a hand had plunged into her heart and torn out all the pain, she felt peaceful" _

The words that she had read so many times echoed around in her head. Conjuring up vivid images, and causing emotions to swell and flow around inside her. If only she could live such a fairy-tale, though perhaps without the loss of the man she was so incredibly in love with. Though wasn't it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? What did it matter anyway? It seemed much easier to daydream, to pick and choose the attributes and characteristics of a person than to have to find them in a real living person. Real living people were really quite a pain when you thought about it. It was safer to stay within your head, safe from harm. Without thinking she nodded to herself in affirmation of this decision and continued walking down the small path along the windswept hills, the grass rippling in the wind, like the waves of the far off ocean.

Her thoughts again turned to the story she had been reading last night. Her favourite. She knew it off by heart, every word, every glorious sentiment, every, she stumbled as her foot caught on an unseen tussock of grass and she fell, unable to recover her balance in time. She gasped with a sudden intake of breath as her arm had been trapped at an uncomfortable angle under the weight of her body. She pushed herself up and managed to get to her feet. Rolling up the sleeve of her shirt she could see that her wrist was already turning a shocking shade of purple. She sighed, the pain was sending sharp impulses to her head, and her wrist was throbbing in time to the pulsing of her blood. Why couldn't she just retreat into her own mind and stay there for ever? Not have to eat, or sleep, bother with all those menial tasks that living required. But alas no, she was stuck here, in reality, with all its harsh truths.

A voice shocked her out of her own contemplative thoughts and she looked up quickly to see a man standing in front of her. She wasn't sure whether or not she had seen him before, see never bothered to remember people that well and after a while they all started to look the same as it was. Perhaps she hadn't met him, she was quite sure she would have remembered him. He was reasonably tall, dark black falling across his pale face, which was angular and not at the same time, his high cheekbones making him look somewhat elven. His dark brown pants and crisp white shirt added to the feeling that he was a perfectionist, and she was hedging her bets on his boots being nicely polished. All in all she thought that he wasn't that unattractive, not that she was at all interested at all, she had everything she needed right inside her head.

She gathered that he had said something to her, as he was looking at her as if waiting for a response "I'm sorry what was it you said, I didn't quite catch it, I was somewhat distracted"

"I was asking if you were alright" his voice was nonchalant, as if he was asking if she were alright simply because there was nothing else to say. For some reason this made a white hot flame of anger flash in her. Why had he even bothered to ask if he had no interest?

"Yes, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" her reply was short and she made to continue on her way along the path, but he spoke again before she had moved two steps "Really? Are you quite sure? Because if my arm were such a vivid shade of purple I wouldn't be saying that I was fine as you so eloquently put it" She bit her tongue to stop the impromptu reply she knew that would come if she didn't physically stop herself. His cool, calm voice, made her red hot with anger. Why this one man would irritate her so much she had no idea, but then again she was always very quick to tire and judge people.

"Are you a doctor, or are you just observant"

the edges of his mouth curved slightly into a smile, " Perhaps I'm a bit of both or maybe I'm neither. Let me see your arm" She hesitated slightly, she didn't feel particularly like being close enough for this man that was right now not only an irritation, but who was infringing on her imagination time. She sighed and stepped close enough to him and held her arm out to him. She felt his fingers lightly touch and circle her bruised flesh. The brisk morning air drifted around them both, his fingers themselves felt like air dancing over her skin. She shivered as a gust of wind flowed through her thin shirt, making her skin stand out in goosebumps. His long elegant fingers gently pressed into her skin, feeling the muscles and the bones. He looked up at her and she could see that he had grey eyes, clear and yet at the same time like a stormy winter sky.

"You haven't broken anything, just twisted the muscle, you should put some ice on it to help the swelling" "Well thank you for your informed advice, it was very kind of you" she smiled at him and extricated her arm from his hands. "I'll be sure to put some ice on it later" not likely, where on earth was she supposed to get ice? Honey would be much better, and easier to procure. For the second time she made to leave and was sure that she had managed it this time till his cool voice broke through the air "your very liberal with your sarcasm you know" she stopped and groaned internally. Why couldnt this annoying, perfect man with grey eyes leave her alone and let her go back to her world where people like him didnt exist unless she was using them as a ploy for her hero to come and save her. She turned around to face him "Really am I? I had no idea, I'm truly sorry if I offended you in any way" her every word dripped with sarcasm, and she could see bemusement cross his face. " Are you usually such an ungrateful person to people who are looking out for your well being?" she narrowed her eyes at him, mirroring her sarcasm with his own was not what she had expected. "well do you usually act as if others are infringing upon your very important time and are simply a nuisance to you?" the bemused look didnt leave his face and this was only making her all the more annoyed.

"well my time is very important, so I think I have every right to assume that people are being a nuisance to me" this comment wouldnt have made her so angry if it he had said it with even the smallest hint of sarcasm, as it was he sounded as if he truly meant it, and she was quite sure that he did mean every word of it. She bit her tongue, hard. So hard she felt she sharp taste of blood in her mouth. She took a deep breath in, looked at him cooly, turned and finally made her escape.

She shoved her cold hands deep into her pockets and let the cold gusting autumn wind blow the boiling anger out of her. She didnt look back, and didnt care to. If there was one thing that she despised more than the average person, it was people who were completely insufferable. As she walked, looking at the rippling grass around her, and the clouds scudding along the sky, she hoped strongly to never have to meet that man again in her entire lifetime.


	2. Chapter 2

The thick honey glowed amber as the soft autumn light shone through it. It spun around on the thick spoon as if it would crystalise and be there forever, but as gravity took over it started its slow stretch down towards her bruised wrist. She smoothed it out around her wrist and before it could slip away from she placed a large bandage around her wrist and tied it tightly. She grimaced slightly at the initial pain of the bandage being tied around the soft flesh but didnt stop to allow herself to think about it. She placed the lid back on the jar of the honey and put it back on the shelf, behind all the other jars so that what she had used would not be missed for some time. She walked out the little door of the store room and closed it softly behind her and started off down the paved path leading to the dwellings. " and what would you be doing coming out of the storeroom Vess?"

She groaned to herself, of all the people to be caught by it had to be Ellin. She turned around and could see Ellin standing three metres away. Though Ellin was the same age as her she had a about a head on her height. Her short blonde hair stood out at all ends, and her dark brown eyes seemed alight with glee at having discovered her doing something that she shouldnt have been doing. The best way to get out of this situation would be to lie, which she duly did

"Oh Ellin, I was asked to tidy up the storeroom, its been getting quite messy lately" Ellin crinkled up her nose in distrust, but Vess didn't let it faze her, she had been putting up with Ellin most of her life and she knew that she could get her way out of this one.

"since when would anyone ask you to clean up anything Vess? Everyone knows that your the last person to ask anything of"

Vess tried not to smile. It was true, she was the last person asked to do anything. It was all due to her absentmindedness, she could never concentrate on anything, it wasnt really her fault she just had better things to think about than sewing up a pillow.

"Yes I know. I was quite surprised myself when I was asked. But it seems that Deva thought that I deserved another chance to prove myself"

She grinned inwardly, the battle was won. Ellin wouldnt dare to go and ask Deva if she had or had not asked her to clean up the storeroom. She could see indecision glancing across Ellins face, just another minute and she would give in.

"well I hope you did a good job this time Vess, because I wouldnt want to be on the receiving end of Devas disappointment" she nodded twice as if to affirm this belief and off she pranced down to the dwellings.

That had been an easy win. She was positive that the older that Ellin got the easier it was to pull one over her. Was it possible for someone to get less intelligent as time went on? In Ellins case she was quite sure that anything was possible.

The sun at that moment shone through the apple trees surrounding the orchard and hit her cool skin. She sunk down on the soft mossy grass that grew up around the trees and lent against a trunk. The golden sunlight caressed her skin and she leaned back against the smooth apple trunk and closed her eyes. How easy it would be to stay like this forever, right here in this moment. To never have to get up, to talk to people, to be expected, or in her case not expected to be able to do anything. She pretended as if she did not mind that everyone thought of her as a useless piece of rope, she had even been told once that a piece of rope would not be useless and that she was more like a thorn sticking into someones thumb. She had laughed and shrugged it off, but the truth was that it did hurt. Everyone had long since given up the thought of being able to tame her or her mind and so they let her do what she wanted when she wanted.

Her stomach growled in hunger and she clenched it to stop the sound. She didnt want to go inside and sit down in the busy hall with all the other people who lived in the dwellings, enjoying and swapping stories of the days events, passing each other plates of bread or bowls of something to each other, knocking her while she sat there in her own world.

Her stomach growled again and she knew that she would have to go in. Easing herself up the apple trunk she stood and turned in the direction of the dwellings. She ambled through the orchard, her feet dragging heavily behind her wishing that the walk to the dwellings would take longer than the 10 minutes she knew it would take at her slowest.

The bare, gnarled branches of the apple trees stood out, silhouetted by the setting sun. She wished not for the first time that she could draw. She couldnt even transfer her imagination to paper. But if it were things that she could do next to the things that she couldnt, she was not a very accomplished person.

As she reached the bridge that spanned the now frozen river she could see the twinkling lights from the hall, where she knew everyone would be now sitting down to dinner. Having crossed the bridge and passed through what everyone knew as the arch trees, two large oaks that bent at their tops to form an arch, she entered into the paved court that led up to the steps of the main building of the dwelling. The voices of those inside was now audible and becoming steadily louder the closer she got to the steps. Having reached the bottom

Step she stopped and stood there. Looking out from here, where she was slightly above everything, she could see the apple orchard down past the bridge, the frozen river winding its way out of her vision. The roof of the storeroom was just visible over the tops of the apple trees, and beyond that she could see the beginning of the grassy expanse that was the moors of Avren. She loved the moors, the seemed to go on forever, even though she knew that there were small towns dotted all throughout the moors you didnt really know that they were there till they were right in front of you. It wasnt just the isolation of them though, it was the fact that they were wild, and real, and yet at the same time there were the least real thing she had ever seen. Thats what had always attracted her to them. The way the wind moved through the grass, and the sky seemed to blend with the hills. They reminded her of herself. At first look they seemed to be barren, devoid of life, but they were so far removed from that, they were beautiful in their isolation and wildness, and they were home to many different furry creatures that she had glimpsed at times over the years. Her stomach growled again, as if to remind her that if she didnt feed herself soon then she would not be walking through the moors again any time soon. Sighing she turned her back on the beauty of the crisp night and walked up the steps and into the dining hall.

The warmth and the smell of spices and honey were the first things to hit her as she walked into the dining hall. The next thing was the noise of two hundred women laughing and chatting about nothing and everything. She made her way over to the end of the closest table and slid in next to another woman who, if she had noticed her presence did not acknowledge it. Grabbing a bowl of soup and some still warm bread, she tucked in. The warm amber liquid of the soup filled her mouth with the most glorious flavours, and for just a moment she let herself slip away from the noisy hall and out into the fading light of the cool night. All to soon she was jolted back to the present by the women next to her getting to her feet. Dinner was almost over. She hurriedly slurped up the rest of her soup and got to her feet to follow the rest of the women going off to their respective rooms for the night.

The room that she slept in she shared with 5 other girls all around her age. She had spent 16 of the 18 years of her life in the same room with the same people and yet she still could not remember their names, or for that matter what they looked like. They all seemed to her to blend into one person, and for a time, when she had been younger, she had put much effort into trying to remember who was who, and who liked what, but in the end it had tired her out. It had been like trying to hold onto water, no matter what it slipped away from her time and time again. By the time she reached her room the other had already changed and were trying to conjure up some warmth to their furthest limbs.

She changed out of her clothes and slipped on the soft pants and shirt along with the mohair socks that were a must in the cooler months. Slipping between her covers she snuggled down and pulled the edged of the blankets around her to keep the cool fingers of the night out. Slowly darkness crept along the edges of her vision and sleep claimed her.


End file.
